The present disclosure relates to a passenger supply system for installation in a passenger supply channel on board a vehicle, such as an aircraft. The present disclosure further relates to a cabin arrangement for installation on board a vehicle, such as an aircraft. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to a method for installing a passenger supply system in a passenger supply channel on board a vehicle, such as an aircraft. The present disclosure still further relates to a method for installing a cabin arrangement on board a vehicle, such as an aircraft.
The passenger cabin of a vehicle, such as an aircraft, a coach, a bus, a ship or the like, is conventionally equipped with a passenger supply channel (PSC). Such a PSC is described, for example, in DE 10 2009 058 849 corresponding to WO 2011/079906 or US 2012/312,921. The PSC is arranged in an aircraft cabin in an area below luggage compartments used to accommodate items of hand luggage of the passengers (hat racks).
Typically, in the area of the PSC a plurality of input components and/or output components are arranged. Such input/output components are described, for example, in DE 10 2012 018 569 corresponding to WO 2011/134615. The input/output components are connectable to the PSC for supplying passengers seated in the passenger seat row below the input/output components. The input/output components are arranged in a position that is accessible to the passenger(s) seated in the passenger seat row.
Input components allow the passengers to input orders or calls. To this end, the input component may be a touch panel, a monitor or one or more buttons, on which orders can be input, such as the call for a cabin crew member, the change of a sound volume or the change of a lamp lighting brightness.
Output components supply the passengers, for example, with light, visual information and/or sound information. To this end, the output component may be a loud speaker, a monitor, a display element, on which a fasten seatbelt sign, for example, is shown, and/or a lamp, such as a reading lamp. Additionally or alternatively, the output components supply the passengers with conditioned air, medical outlet and/or oxygen. To this end, the output component may be an air nozzle, a medical outlet module and/or an oxygen output module.
A typical air nozzle is individually adjustable for each passenger seat in the seat row. The air nozzle can be connected to an individual ventilation system, which is conventionally formed separately from a centrally controlled cabin ventilation system. In order to regulate the air flow supplied to the passenger cabin by way of the air nozzle, a passenger can adjust an air outlet cross-section of the air nozzle as desired, for example by rotation of a corresponding diaphragm element. An oxygen output module forms part of an emergency oxygen supply system that allows supplying each the passengers seated in the passenger seat row.
Conventionally, the input/output components are mounted on a rail track, which is configured to be mounted along the passenger supply channel. In particular, the input/output components are mounted side by side thus leaving a slit (or separating edge) between a first input/output component and a second input/output component adjacent (i.e., next neighboring) to the first input/output component. These slits are visible for the passengers.
Moreover, it may be desirable to change the distances between two adjacent seat rows, for example, when re-configuring from a high-density economy class configuration to an economy class configuration or from an economy class configuration to a premium economy class configuration or from a premium economy class configuration to a business or even first class configuration. Typical distance changes related with these configuration range between about 1 cm and 15 cm. In the case of such a re-configuration, every single input/output component has to be re-arranged as well such that after the re-configuration each passenger seat row is associated, for example, with the same a number of input/output components and such that the conditions for accessing the respective input/output components from the associated passenger seat row is identical or at least similar among all the passenger seat rows. The re-configuring of every single input/output component, however, is quiet complex and time-consuming. Furthermore: Due to the enlarging of the distance between two adjacent seat rows, it is mandatory to fill a gap between a first input/output component and a second input/output component neighbored next to the first input/output component by use of space filling panels. These space filling panels lead, in turn, to additional slits. Also, the space filling panels have to be mounted separately and additionally to the input/output components, what further complicates the re-configuration and increases the weight of the passenger supply system.